Workout Wednesday - How to fix a leaky faucet and replace a toilet fill valve

As a single lady, living alone, there's some things that are a bigger accomplishment for me than for other people.  Fixing stuff that breaks seems to fit in that category.  I still remember the first time I successfully replaced a light switch.

I was thoroughly troubled last night when my toilet wouldn't stop running.  A quick inspection of the tank revealed something called "the fill valve" was spraying water in a way that was definitely incorrect.  I had a neighbor come over and verify.  Then we used the emergency shut off so it didn't run all night long and I started some internet research.  Home Depot opens at 6am!  I prefer Ace - The Friendly Place which opens at 8am in my neighborhood.  (They are really good there about actually knowing how to fix stuff and explaining it to me.)  Then I found some great youtube videos, this one is the best and I watched it a couple times last night.  It gave me some serious confidence that I could actually handle this situation.

 

I stayed up Tuesday night watching election results and was shocked when they broke into my local news coverage to report that Ohio had been called as a blue state and then showed everyone in Chicago going nuts.  I went to bed shortly after that.  When I woke up this morning I found the rest of the election results (including two constitutional amendments in Minnesota) and made sure they didn't do a flip-flop call on Ohio.  Here was the scene when I went to bed.

Since I was already planning at trip to the hardware store, I took a look at a faucet that's been giving me issues for a long time.  It drips and drips.  We've replaced the washer in it once (and by "we" I mean Qat Lady while I watched) and it looked like it needed to happen again.  I was thwarted early on in my mission though when I couldn't get the screw off the top of the faucet.  No amount of liquid wrench, banging, or attempting to grab it with vice wrenches did anything.  Oy.

 

I headed over to Ace and met a really helpful girl who talked to me about all my problems.  The toilet seemed like an easy fix.  The faucet on the other hand... Suggestions included soaking it in liquid wrench, banging a lot, or "just break the faucet".  Since it's a metal faucet that last option won't work.  Sigh.

When I got home, I liberally applied more liquid wrench and let the stuck screw soak all that up while I dealt with the toilet.  I did have to watch the video one more time, just to make sure I was doing one thing right and I read the directions that came with what I got.  That repair was amazingly straight forward.  It really only took a few minutes, just like the video said and it was all done.

 

The sink, on the other hand, is a little more discouraging.  It should be a five minute repair job but there's a few confounding factors.  I think ultimately someone in Minneapolis should recommend me a plumber who can fix this so I can move on with my life.  Here are the confounding factors for my drippy hot water faucet:

• I can't get the screw off the top of the faucet.
• The screw is brass and softer than metal should ever be so it's easy to strip.
• The screw is brass and softer than metal should ever be so it's impossible to grab with a vice wrench and turn that way.
• The faucet is metal so "break the faucet and we'll get you a new one" is not an option
• The emergency water shut off on the sink does not work all the way.  This wasn't an issue when we replaced that last washer, but I can see it might be if a plumber has to do actual stuff to my sink.

After the plumbing adventures, I headed out for my mile run and 'plank to failure' - made it to 1:15 today which is big.  It's been raining and crappy here, so the ground was all messy for my planking.  After that I was feeling not so good so wound up taking a long nap on the couch and hoping to feel better.